In just under an hour's time comes what to many people will signify the beginning in earnest of England's World Cup campaign – the naming by Sven-Goran Eriksson of his provisional 23-man squad, plus 4 reserves.
As is quickly becoming custom, Eriksson is faced with a number of difficult choices due to a number of players carrying or just returning from injuries, mostly of the metatarsal variety – England's biggest nemesis of recent times.
Of players who would normally expect to be in the squad, Michael Owen, Ledley King, Jermaine Jenas and crucially Wayne Rooney are all currently injured, whilst Ashley Cole, Wayne Bridge and Sol Campbell have only recently returned to action. I believe that it is simply not feasible to name all seven of these players in the squad – England were hamstrung in the last World Cup when selecting just two players who had recently recovered from injury, David Beckham and Keiron Dyer.
Wayne Rooney will be named in the squad, and I agree fully with this action – Rooney is a once-in-a-generation player who has the potential to take even an average team to the top (see Maradona in 1986). Owen is also likely to be named, despite not playing at the weekend as he was "not feeling 100%". Carrying two injured strikers into the tournament necessitates the selection of 5 strikers, rather than the 4 I suspect Eriksson would select if both Rooney and Owen were 100% fit. One of these will certainly be Peter Crouch, with the other two likely to be Jermaine Defoe of Tottenham and Darren Bent of Charlton.
Defoe has not had the best of seasons, having spent much of this term flitting between the first team and the substitutes bench as Robbie Keane has taken the role of main striker (there was an excellent analysis of the pair from Alan Hansen on Match of the Day last night, illustrating the sort of movement in the box that Keane makes, in the same manner as Michael Owen at his best, and which Defoe does not do to the same level). Bent, whilst starting the season in excellent form, has tailed off in the second half of the season (a microcosm of Charlton as a whole over the past few seasons), and did not overwhelm on his previous appearance for England – although this should not necessarily count against him as a one-off.
The most interesting decision will be whom Eriksson selects as the reserve striker(s). The names cropping up in the papers include Heskey, Beattie and, today, Theo Walcott. To me, Walcott represents the most intriguing of these and that is who I would go with – Heskey and Beattie are both well-tried at international level and have shown themselves not to be up to the task, whereas Walcott is unproven. It may be that he is not yet ready for this level, but when somebody like Arsene Wenger with a proven track record of bringing through youngsters says that he "wouldn't stand in the way" of an England call-up, I think the risk is worth taking.
In midfield the majority of the decisions are easy – David Beckham, Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and Joe Cole are firmly entrenched as the first-choice quartet, whilst Michael Carrick has performed well enough for Spurs to become an automatic choice, particularly given the question marks over Ledley King's fitness, to fill the 'holding' role requirements. Shaun Wright-Phillips has also done enough in his England appearances, despite starting less regularly than an Austin Healey at club level, to gain selection.
That leaves either one or two midfield spots up-for-grabs. Given the injury concerns over Ashley Cole and Wayne Bridge, one of these will be a left-sided player, probably either Keiron Richardson or Stuart Downing. I suspect Downing will get the nod, with Richardson in reserve to come in should further injury befall Ashley Cole or Bridge. I suspect that Owen Hargreaves will also be named as a reserve, and will be brought in should Ledley King be forced to pull out. I do not expect Jermaine Jenas to be named, as the risk amongst an already injury-ravaged team.
In defence, Gary Neville, Rio Ferdinand, John Terry and Ashley Cole (if fit – he looked OK yesterday) are first-choice, with Jamie Carragher and Wayne Bridge (again, if fit) nailed on for back-up spots. Ledley King will also be in assuming he can prove to have overcome his injury concerns, leaving one spot remaining. For me, this is between Sol Campbell and Wes Brown. Campbell's recent problems have been well documented, and he has only just returned to fitness. Brown, whilst falling out of Man Utd's first team to new signing Nemanja Vidic recently, has performed well when selected all season and provides extra cover at right-back, so he would be my selection. Phil Neville has been mentioned in some quarters as a versatile, dependable player but although he is under-rated by many, he times are not yet desperate enough.
Between the posts Eriksson has his easiest job – it would seem that Paul Robinson, David James, and Robert Green have the three places sewn up, with Scott Carson in reserve. Eriksson will be praying that he is not called upon to make use of James, Green or Carson though.
So my squad is:
GK: Robinson, James, Green
Def: G.Neville, A.Ferdinand, Terry, A.Cole, Carragher, Bridge, Brown, King
Mid: Beckham, Gerrard, Lampard, J.Cole, Carrick, Wright-Phillips, Downing
For: Owen, Rooney, Crouch, Defoe, Bridge
Reserves: Carson, Richardson, Hargreaves, Walcott
We shall see how accurate this is in about 10 minutes. This post was a bit rushed to best the 2pm deadline, apologies for any crap SPAG.
